Conch Card
by Kaede Karasuma
Summary: [SasuSaku, ON HIATUS] Sakura could have anything she's ever dreamed of. But what she wants isn't a material thing. A little wish upon a shooting star stirs up big problems. Where's someone who understands when you need them?
1. Chapter 1: How It Began

**Summary:** SasuxSaku..._ Haruno Sakura could have anything she ever dreamed of. Except what she wants isn't a material thing. A wish upon a little shooting star stirs up big problems. Where's someone who understands when you need them?_

**Detailed Summary:** SasuxSaku..._ Haruno Sakura could have anything she ever dreamed of. Except what she wants isn't a material thing. A little wish upon a shooting star stirs up big problems when Ino turns green with envy and her friends get involved. Ino will do anything to be better than Sakura. Where's someone who understands when you need them?_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

Please read and review!

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Haruno Sakura couldn't help but smile in spite of herself. She was going to turn seventeen-years-old in exactly a week, June 31st, and she had every intention of enjoying her last days of sixteen-dom. In that time she would find out it really was her "sweet sixteen" indeed... 

Sakura was beautiful. Like most teenage girls she didn't believe anyone who told her so. Her hair was unlike any other; it was a natural cherry-blossom pink, and carefully cut no shorter than two inches below her shoulders. Her captivating emerald eyes never gave up their glint of curiosity and when Sakura smiled she was told it could warm up even the coldest person.

To match her beauty Sakura had a sweet thoughtful temperament. She was the kind of girl her peers wished they were. All she could ever want was within the reach of her fingertips: her social status was high, she was gorgeous, and she lived three houses away from the beach boardwalk. But there was one thing she didn't have.

It was getting impossible to ignore it and all the opportunities, and so Sakura had thought about it increasingly more. It was so common among girls her age, but nobody seemed to just... click.

The one thing Sakura didn't have was a boyfriend. She didn't exactly want one, but she didn't feel as if she could keep turning boys down. It hurt her to see most of the boys have the same reaction: fake-smiling while their shoulders slumped and trying to act like her answer didn't make a difference.

"I don't understand..."

Sakura breathed in deeply and heaved an exhausted sigh. It was very late but here she was, sitting next to her best friend Ino at their 'own' beach. It wasn't officially their beach but since no protest arose since it was deserted, as a result it was claimed as theirs. She absolutely loved this beach. There were never any tourists, nor anyone to bother her. The only other people who knew about this beach were the rest of the little clique she and Ino were in which they dubbed "The Clan", and consisted of Naruto, Shikamaru, Tenten, Hinata, and Neji.

Ino was hands-down _the_ leader of the Clan. She had everybody wrapped around her finger and dragged them wherever she felt like making them go. Any resistance and a new rumor about the person spread like wildfire. Tenten and Hinata were Ino's quiet followers against their will, but Sakura was far too independent for that. The Clan's boys never gave Ino any trouble either- after all, she had lured each of them before into dating her and was currently dating Shikamaru. Nobody knew how long that relationship would last though; Ino was unpredictable, and if she even so much as stubbed her toe she could get pissed and dump him.

Like Sakura, Ino was also beautiful. Her long, blonde, sun-bleached hair reached the middle of her back and was always styled in her signature ponytail with a single side bang. Her eyes were an interesting light blue color and reminded people of the clear sky. However, Ino was only beautiful on the outside. She flaunted her body and beauty, scoring herself numerous boyfriends, and regularly wore immodest clothes such as tube tops and miniskirts. Despite the whispers of 'slut' or 'whore' when she walked by, Ino refused to change her ways because someone else didn't like her.

Ino and Sakura's friendship was rocky, although they were supposed to be best friends. Hinata and Tenten had to keep any conversation with Sakura to a minimum because Ino told them so. In truth, Ino was afraid of Sakura being better than her in any way while Sakura hated how Ino tried to focus all rays of spotlight on herself. They were rivals, but friends.

Gazing at the dark midnight sky and the twinkling stars dotted across it, Sakura pulled her legs against her. She lightly rested her chin on her knees, deep in thought. It... was true everything she could ever want was within the reach of her fingertips. With Ino around things were a little more difficult, yes. But Sakura didn't want a material thing. She wanted something, no, someone more. The one thing she longed for from the bottom of her heart was someone who understood her. Someone who didn't pretend like they were listening and wouldn't be another fake friend. Right now Sakura could only talk to Naruto. Naruto did listen to her but he didn't always understand and he didn't always have time. He was usually somewhere with his girlfriend Hinata, fulfilling her every need. Sakura realized he had responsibilities but nobody else in the Clan was about to stop following around Ino and listen to her anytime soon.

Sakura laid her head sideways on her knees, her soft, pastel pink hair cascading over her kneecaps. She thoughtfully dragged her finger in the cool sand; her hand abruptly stopping when she realized she had absentmindedly drawn two little roses. Confused with herself, Sakura was quickly erasing them when she heard Ino beside her give a small gasp.

"Oh my God, Sakura, look!" Ino gently shook her arm to get her attention. Once Sakura was content that the roses were gone, she hurriedly turned to see what Ino talking about.

"Huh?... Oh, cool!" Sakura lifted up her head, smiling. It was a single shooting star making its way across the dark sky and its tail was leaving a faint path of light that diminished as quickly as it appeared.

Sakura had an idea. This is so 3rd grade, but if it's a shooting star, I should make a wish... then I wish... I wish for someone who will understand and listen to me!

The star disappeared, as if it had heard Sakura's plea and its purpose was done. Ino raised an eyebrow.

"What're you looking at? I mean _that_." She pointed at the shore. Sakura's eyes followed Ino's arm and trying to figure out what she was pointing at when she suddenly saw it.

There on the shore, where the salty water met the dry dusty sand, sat a whole, clean, and unbroken conch shell. Conch shells had never before been found around the area where the Clan lived, and Sakura and Ino were puzzled why one had shown up now; it seemed elegant and intriguing when the moon beams reflected off the small visible part of its interior surface, which was strangely the same color as Sakura's hair.

"Well, don't you want it? Go get it already!" Ino urged in an annoyed tone. She's going to let me have it? Sakura wondered in amazement. Something pretty was going to be hers and not Ino's for once?

"...Me?" Sakura asked in disbelief.

"No," spat Ino sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. "_Yes_ you! My God..."

With hesitance, Sakura pulled herself up awkwardly. She smoothed out the spring green t-shirt she was wearing but didn't bother to dust the sand off her khaki shorts. Once you had lived at the beach long enough random grains of sand became unnoticeable, and Sakura had lived here her whole life.

The cool sand kept the prints of Sakura's small bare feet as she went to retrieve the conch shell. It was as if it called her name; it seemed to lure her. She stood uncomfortably and stared down its silky surface, examining it closer. It was as perfect as a shell could be, and it made Sakura almost afraid to touch it. She gave a quick look back at Ino, who waved her hand with a bored look and forced a full-face smile.

It's just... a shell, Sakura assured herself, sighing and smiling for real. I'm making a big deal out of this... she thought tiredly. Still, Sakura thought she was prepared for anything as she turned around to meet possibly the only thing she wasn't prepared for- unmistakably the biggest shock of her life.

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	2. Chapter 2: Envy

Most of the time:

_ITALICS _thoughts. I find it to be easier that way.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

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Sakura was now staring into the cold black eyes of a boy her age. The two teens' faces were merely inches apart, an utterly stunned look on hers and a rather bored look on his. Sakura gradually exhaled the breath she had been absentmindedly holding in. The boy's eyes were chilling and intense, and definitely making her nervous. But Sakura couldn't stop looking at them; she had never seen anything like them before. She had never seen anything like _him_ before. 

He was wearing baggy grey denim jeans and a long-sleeved, white, baggy, button-up shirt. It quietly flapped in the slight breeze that had started to blow when Sakura was lost in her thoughts. His hair appeared black like his eyes, but in the moon's light his hair was truly a very dark navy blue. His eyes... of all his visible attributes, they were Sakura's favorite. They were the first thing she had ever seen that could be plain but intricate, empty but full. He was not allowed to be real!

Sakura bit her lip and eventually forced herself to look down. The metallic taste of blood in her mouth signaled this wasn't a dream. If this isn't a dream, she wondered, then why... the conch shell was gone.

Her head bolted up only to find the boy carefully holding the shell in his hands.

_Why... does he ha__ve it?_

Meanwhile, Sakura wasn't the only one who had noticed how interesting the situation- or rather the boy- was. Ino gaped in astonishment at the sudden twist in events. After a moment she pursed her lips and frowned, her thin fingers clenched around a handful of sand. This guy was closer to Sakura than she was, and she didn't like it one bit. He was definitely 10 times more attractive than Shikamaru, her current boyfriend. This boy being near Sakura at all... it wouldn't do. _I _will_ have him!_

Ino determinedly jumped up and straightened out, throwing the sand in her hand aside. She hurriedly dusted off the excess grains on her palms, fixed her hair, and tugged at the seams of her cherry red matching tube top and miniskirt outfit. She made sure Sasuke would like what he was about to see- she would force him to. No way was Sakura going to win Sasuke with her around; Ino swung her hips as she strolled over to execute her plan.

"Is this yours?" The boy that had awed the two girls nonchalantly cracked the tranquility between himself and Sakura. His sudden start of a conversation startled her, but his voice was cool and calming. He was also still very close, but neither he nor Sakura seemed to mind.

"Yes it is, thank you very much...?" Sakura implied with her tone of voice that she wanted to know his name. The boy carefully held out the conch shell in his hand for Sakura to take. Her delicate hand unintentionally touched his when he gave it to her, causing Sakura to blush immensely at the skin contact.

"Sasuke." Sasuke said simply but coolly. "It's Uchiha Sasuke. You are very welcome, Haruno-san."

Sakura grinned as she cradled the conch shell against her chest, treasuring it. She had wanted it before Sasuke had given it to her personally, but the fact that he had now made the shell even more important to her.

"Thank you very much, Sasuke," Sakura expressed. _Was this even real?_ So many things overflowed in her head; she wasn't quite sure what to think about first.

"**SO**, Sasuke, right?" Ino flipped her hair and skipped beside him. She scooted in the small space between the two and pushed Sakura back. She reluctantly backed up, unable to do anything about Ino's annoying presence. Sasuke frowned. He could already tell that Ino was going to pose as a problem.

Ino put on a cute face and smiled. Sakura opened her mouth to say something but Ino's head whipped around, her eyes sending Sakura a glare as if she could sense she wanted to protest. Ino then turned around and went on her merry way again, trying to get a good reaction out of Sasuke.

"You're cute," Ino chimed, "especially when you frown. I like you."

An unimpressed Sasuke made an effort to step around her but Ino prevented it by stepping in front of him again. Sasuke sighed in frustration.

"...You're not cute, at all. I don't like you." By being blunt he hoped Ino was smart enough to get the obvious point. But part of her 'cute act' was pretending to be empty between her ears, which Sakura never understood why Ino considered that cute.

Ino ignored Sasuke's reply like everything else she didn't want to hear.

"By the way, my name's Yamanaka Ino, and-"

"I'm Haruno Sakura, Sasuke," Sakura interrupted, stepping next to Sasuke's left side. "Thank you again for giving me the conch." She smiled cheerfully. It was Ino's turn to be ignored when Sasuke turned to Sakura, but there was a questioning look on his face.

"Conch?"

"Oh my God." Ino gaped at him. "You haven't lived."

"It's this." Sakura held up the large shell in her hands and went with the flow. "There's an old belief that says you're supposed to be able to hear the ocean when you place it against your ear, but I don't think that's true... really, you've never heard of a conch shell before?" Sasuke shook his head.

"Where the heck are you _from_?" Ino put her hands on her hips.

A little offended, Sasuke casually slipped his hands into his loose jean pockets.

"The city," he muttered diffidently.

_That makes sense_, Sakura thought. _Too bad he's not going to be around though... _"Are you vacationing here?"

"Yeah-"

"How long're you staying here then?" Ino pressured him. _If Sasuke's only vacationing, then I don't have much time!_

Ino was starting to get on Sasuke's nerves. Never before had he met anyone so irritating. "A week," he shrugged. The three teens silenced, Sakura and Ino thinking about his answer and Sasuke waiting for either of them to speak.

Although she wasn't exactly sure why, Sakura felt saddened. Sasuke was only going to be here for a week, which meant just seven days with another person who apparently disliked Ino. Inside she denied it, but honestly she wanted to get to know him better.

A weak wave splashed against the six bare ankles and feet standing on the shore; the awkward hush after Sasuke had responded diminished as Ino squealed and retreated to dry sand. Sakura didn't move but she gasped, surprised by the freezing water. Why was it so cold- if it was the end of June?

Having heard no reaction at all from Sasuke, Sakura took a fleeting look in his direction to find him staring at her. He hastily looked away as did she; both of them feeling their reddening faces grow hot.

Ino observed the pair from afar and immediately concluded she couldn't leave them alone. Sasuke wasn't falling for her. He wasn't even **swaying**. Jealousy flared up inside herself as Ino watched the two side by side. She muttered a swear word.

_If I can't have Sasuke, Sakura can't either,_ Ino ultimately decided. _I will do everything to separate them...!_

_So, what can I do now...?_

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Now that you've read, please review! 

P.S.

I check my work many times. If you think you've found a 'mistake' that doesn't have to do with spelling or grammar, it's most likely supposed to be there...

Since the main characters of this story are teenagers, there is a high possiblity they will use slang words. Not trying to stereotype anyone, please don't misunderstand. xX

Arigatou gozaimasu!

Thank you very much!


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